The Attention Space
Understanding attention and recall in the premium environment of OOH
Context
Measuring attention has become rightly fashionable in a media environment, to the extent that for many, attention is the one metric driving effectiveness and brand measures as part of the media consideration process. It is particularly relevant to Out of Home (OOH), a brilliant reach-building medium that relies on frequency, environment and impact. With numerous formats delivering only fleeting engagement, finding those environments and formats that do engage and capture our attention remains crucial to ensure people look at your ad for longer or that the ad can turn someone’s head in a busy environment.
At Limited Space, our expanding portfolio of screens and the changing nature of the mall retail environment offers opportunity for more creative and impactful brand communication. Malls now deliver unique shopping and leisure experiences for key audiences, and we have been proud to invest in stand-out digital screens and high-impact visual ad formats that deliver attention-grabbing opportunities for brands.
Just how attention-grabbling is something we have also invested in before. In 2020, a smaller, physical eye-tracking study in the mall environment helped us validate the relationship between attention and ad recall. Our ad assets provided a visual distraction to shoppers, who looked at our Orbit screens for around seven seconds; and the longer people spent looking, the more likely they were to remember the campaign. We also found that the addition of Audio to campaigns disrupted shoppers from their normal behaviour and diverted attention to the screens.
This now sits alongside valuable insight into attention from the OOH and media industry. In an extensive attention study, GroupM has recently uncovered the significant impact even minimal attention increments have on effectiveness measures. For example, ‘brand recall saw a 26-percentage point increase with just three seconds of attention’, whilst ‘longer amounts of attention are critical for driving lower funnel metrics like consideration, which saw a 6-percentage point increase after three seconds.’ GroupM concluded, ‘This means using formats and environments like pedestrian-only environments on public transport or in shopping areas’ in order to maintain attention.
Other research determines the importance of campaign frequency to complement reach factors in format selection, and the value of factors such as digital motion and context in determining the best place to reach your audience. Well regarded industry insight form Ocean Outdoor also highlights the impact of motion in the creative and size of format in stimulating an advertising effect.
New Research From Limited Space
To update and expand our understanding of how advertising works in the retail and leisure space, we decided to delve much deeper into the attention drivers of our screens and ad formats. Using remote eye-tracking, via a video simulation of fifteen different ad scenarios, we have been able to compare attention times and other engagement factors, including brand recall.
To complement the passive eye-tracking, we also researched audience behaviours and perceptions of the retail experience. The results of our study – from a total research sample of 1,050 – brings a more quantifiable understanding of attention in the Mall location. This includes how shoppers engage effectively with audio and motion in ads and how the mall location is ultimately perceived as an ad environment.
Key Findings
Analysis of attention metrics included the length of fixation and the order of attention (whether your ad is likely to be seen first among a whole set of competing objects including people, shops and even digital displays).
The research revealed that Mall retail formats outperform High St for audience Attention and Ad recall. Format size and the use of Motion have a strong influence on attention and recall. Incremental attention to Audio executions is generally realised among the ad’s target audience only, but they have a significant additional impact to amplifying ad recall amongst all groups.
Malls are seen as premium locations by all audience groups, a place to drive spending, and a destination location for leisure activities. The advertising tested across a range of categories was seen as highly relevant to the audience and the environment.
The Power Of Attention
Overall, Mall ads attracted audience attention for over 28% of total time, competing with a moving video of people, shops and digital displays.
Individual formats attracted longer attention. In OOH – according to our study – people spend around a fifth of their time in an environment looking at an ad. This is highest in Malls, at 28%, which is higher by a factor of 2.3 times then that of the next nearest OOH environment.
Our large-scale Panoramic format is overwhelmingly dominant, consuming half our attention time, with Orbit and D6 around 20%, but much higher when Motion or Audio is part of the ad message.
Motion and Audio typically amplify the attention time to our Orbit screens by between 5% and 20%. Our D6 screens are on a par with a high street large format in terms of pedestrian attention time, and ahead of an equivalent D6. Mall ad formats are working much harder for an ad’s investment in delivering audience attention.
There’s a really significant difference as to which formats are most likely to grab attention before others. In Malls, over half of us look at an ad first, before people, shop fronts and other spaces. In OOH, this is true for around a third of us, higher than on the high street where there are more distractions, or online, where people go for headlines and content.
Our unmissable Panoramic format dominates their space: three-quarters look there first. Our Orbit screens are also typical of this effect, with over half looking at them first. And where Orbit includes Motion or Audio, these are real head turners for those formats, increasing the likelihood of a first engagement.
GenYZ audiences pay more attention to ads and are more responsive to Audio and large format screens. Audio only tends to work to a target audience. Male audiences particularly engage with movement and sound in ads and with larger formats.
Mall Retail Formats An Attention Amplifier
Attention research consistently finds that the longer people spend looking at ads, the more likely they are to remember the campaign. We wanted to test this to quantify the effect of size, motion and audio has on recall.
We found that Size, Motion and Audio all amplify the effect we’ve seen on ad attention. This is particularly true for Audio, which cuts through to drive a disproportionate brand recall.
Our Panoramic format has an unmissable impact, driving strong brand recall from high attention time. Attention levels outweigh other environments, and recall adds an additional +20% effect to the difference between attention and recall.
For our digital formats, strong creative will drive the best impact. Brand recall for a comparable Motion campaign on a larger Orbit screen was nearly twice that of the recall on a smaller D6. The Audio effect is interesting. Recall rises disproportionately above attention levels, and notably higher compared with sound turned off. Audio drives the first attention moment, enhances recall by +35% and is a more effective way of connecting with the target audience.
A Premium, Leisure and Positive Environment
To put our attention results into context, additional research looked at how people feel in that environment, how the use it and what they perceive it to be.
In short, Malls are certainly seen by its audience as a premium environment, with nearly three-quarters of shoppers feeling the mall is a suitable location for premium brands.. Mall Retail formats are seen as particularly relevant for ad categories, like fashion and health and beauty, whilst audiences feel more positive, most notably around factors like being able to experience brands, being with friends and family and liking the environment. They feel comfortable, even excited and they are happy to spend.
Meanwhile, as a location the Mall space is changing significantly to adapt to modern lifestyles. It’s become a location that combines shopping and leisure experiences. There is more to attract people to stay longer and be immersed in the space, and a better space to connect brands with desirable young and family audiences. Two thirds of people are using Malls for dining out, half for visiting the cinema and around 45% for other leisure activities.
In summary, we can be confident that audiences are very attentive to ad formats in the Mall environment, that the formats perform strongly for attention and ad recall, and that size, motion and audio have significant effects on getting ads seen and remembered. With Malls very much seen as premium and a positive environment for brand and leisure experiences, there is real value attainable against ad investment in malls versus other environments where ad formats need to work much harder to grab audience attention.
Author: Nick Mawditt, Marketing Consultant
Methodology
The research interacted with 1,050 respondents. For the passive eye tracking element, we ran five tests amongst 250 people showing 3-4 videos for ten seconds each. The videos depicted similar scenes of screens across retail mall and high street environments, including all formats and with a combination of motion, static and audio ads. Videos were also made of an online environment for comparison. We then interviewed 800 additional respondents on their shopping and leisure habits, perception of various environments and reaction to the advertising shown in the eye-tracking stage.